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M
y
early morning
fl ight to Banda
Ac e h h a d me
bleary eyed and
yawning, as I grog-
gily landed at the
airport. My tour
guide, Mr. Kris, and the manager of my
hotel, Mr. Nurhadi, greeted me cheerily
before bringing me for an early morning
breakfast at a cafe popular with the locals
there. A bowl of traditional Indonesian
lontong
and a cup of strong Aceh coffee
were sufficient to wake me up enough to
meet and have an interesting chat with
the Head of Tourism & Culture of Aceh,
Mr. Reza Fahlevi, back at the hotel.
Reza was very forthcoming with the
tourismscene inAceh. I learnt that, despite
the tsunami, Banda Aceh has been seeing
an influx of visitors, especially since 2008,
get
away
It’s hard to believe that a decade has passed since the devastating tsunami of 2004
claimedalmost200,000 lives.
Arththi Sathananthar
visitsBandaAcehtoseeforherself
howthe tsunami has affected this little Indonesian town 10years on.
Banda Aceh: The Aftermath
with frequent low cost carrier flights flying
into the area. I was surprised to learn that
there was a lot to see and do outside of
Aceh. For starters, there’s Pulau Weh, a
premium diving destination, as well as
various nature trails and of course, food
exploration, where he proudly added that
Banda Aceh is ranked fifth in Indonesia for
its culinary scene.
Later in the day, I went off to visit the
tsunami grave sites but not before stopping
for a quick ‘photo session’ at the Aceh
Museum, which houses an impressive
live scale model replica of a traditional
Acehnese house and centuries-old tomb
stones of past Bugis Kings on the museum
grounds.
My first tsunami stop was the Tsunami
Mass Grave in Lambaro, the final Earthly
resting place for most of the victims
(which tallied at around 46,000). Another
mass grave which I had also stopped by
was the Tsunami Grave Yard inUlee Lheue,
also known as the zero point tsunami area,
named so because it was where the utmost
wrath of the tsunami was felt. Despite
having almost 14,000 victims buried here,
the area was seemingly unaffected, what
with plenty of smiling faces going about
their daily lives amidst the bustle of people
framed against a backdrop of newly built
houses and shop lots.
The highlight of my day, though, was
when I found a peculiar sight amongst
little houses in a village called Lampulo.
There is a seemingly famous ‘boat on the
house’, which is exactlywhat it implies – a
boat sitting atop a house in a downright
bizarre, yet comfortable manner, like it’s a
completely normal part of life in that part
of the world.
I restedwell that night, as I had a packed
Fly into Banda Aceh
from Penang up to
four times a week.
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Monumen Kubah